Polarity Effect of Breakdown for Double Vacuum Gaps in Series under Lightning Impulse Voltage
Shen Jingyu1,2, Xu Zhihong1,2, Liu Zhiyuan3, Geng Yingsan3, Wang Jianhua3
1. College of Electrical Engineering and Automation Fuzhou University Fuzhou 350108 China; 2. Fujian Engineering Research Center of Smart Distribution Grid Equipment Fuzhou 350108 China; 3. School of Electrical Engineering Xi'an Jiaotong University Xi'an 710049 China
Abstract:Vacuum gaps in series are widely used in high-voltage vacuum equipment to improve the insulation performance. It is well-known that one vacuum gap has different dielectric strengths under positive and negative voltages, termed as polarity effect, and this difference might be enlarged as the number of series-gap increases. Therefore, the polarity effect of vacuum gaps in series is an important factor influencing the insulation performance of vacuum equipment. However, there is no quantitative research on the polarity effect of multiple vacuum gaps and also a lack of related evaluation methods. This makes it difficult to design the insulation structure in high-voltage vacuum equipment. To address these issues, this article quantitatively investigated the influence of lightning impulse voltage (LIV) polarity on the breakdown characteristics of double vacuum gaps in series. The mechanism of polarity effect was revealed and an evaluation method for positive and negative breakdown voltages was proposed. The results can help to further understand the breakdown mechanism of vacuums gaps in series and provide theoretical basis for the design of high-voltage insulation structure in vacuum. Firstly, based on sphere-plane electrodes, the breakdown characteristics of double vacuum gaps in series were experimentally determined under positive and negative LIVs. The up-down method was adopted in voltage application. The cumulative probability of breakdown voltage was analyzed by the 3-parameters Weibull distribution and the 50% breakdown voltage U50 was obtained to represent the dielectric strength of double gaps. Secondly, the electric fields of double vacuum gaps were calculated by the finite element method. The voltage distribution and field strengths at cathode of double gaps were obtained. Combining with the experimental results, the influence of maximum field strength at cathode on U50 under positive and negative LIVs was determined. Then, according to the breakdown theory in vacuum, the mechanism of polarity effect was illustrated by analyzing the relationship between the field strengths at cathode and breakdown voltage of double vacuum gaps. Finally, a method for evaluating the breakdown voltages of double gaps under both positive and negative LIVs was proposed based on the maximum field strength at cathode and validated by the experimental results. The conclusions were drawn as following: (1) The lightning impulse breakdown voltage of double vacuum gap in series showed a polarity effect. For the double sphere-plane gaps, the positive breakdown voltage was higher than the negative one. As the gap distance increased, their difference gradually became larger and the polarity effect was more significant. (2) The electric field strength at cathode was the key factor affecting the dielectric strength of double vacuum gaps. Under positive and negative LIVs, the maximum field strength at cathode and breakdown voltage followed a similar negative-exponential relationship. Due to the asymmetric electric field distribution, the difference in field strength at cathode should be the main reason for the polarity effect. (3) Validated by experiments, the fitted relationship between maximum field strength at cathode and U50 (${{U}_{\text{50}}}\text{=51}\text{.23}E_{\text{cmax(h)}}^{-\text{0}\text{.45}}E_{\text{cmax(l)}}^{-\text{0}\text{.33}}$) can be used to evaluate the breakdown voltages of double gaps under LIVs with both polarities. The estimation error was within 10%.
沈靖宇, 许志红, 刘志远, 耿英三, 王建华. 雷电冲击电压下串联双真空间隙的击穿极性效应[J]. 电工技术学报, 2025, 40(17): 5589-5600.
Shen Jingyu, Xu Zhihong, Liu Zhiyuan, Geng Yingsan, Wang Jianhua. Polarity Effect of Breakdown for Double Vacuum Gaps in Series under Lightning Impulse Voltage. Transactions of China Electrotechnical Society, 2025, 40(17): 5589-5600.
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